…The big dust up was actually a confluence of a couple of events. See the stickie post, by Tom Stormcrowe, in the top of the forum threads, for a date to pin on the event(s).
A few members didn't care for the "clubbiness" that evolved over the first years of the 50+ Forum. The things like Pie, pie rides, pie day, mentioning colonoscopies, Tombay falls and Club Tombay, rubbed them the wrong way. they also felt that these topics weren't bicycle related and should be eliminated/deleted somehow.
Several folks got their feelings hurt, or just plain got angry about the tone, as Tom put it, and they either left, or got hostile towards others….
Just what I observed over the few years I have been here, I cannot say that I am always happy with how things go here, I doubt that anyone is always 100% in agreement about the place, or who has an opinion. I have been lucky with the forum, and the members, mostly,
I have received encouragement and support when times were hard. Members have checked on me from time to time, it I was away, or just to say hello. And, there are members I just have to ignore, best left right there about them.
Make of things what you will, times change, and members will come and go. We just lost a member, Artkansas, he passed from a heart attack. He will be missed, greatly. Thanks to everyone here for all y'all have offered to me, and done t make my riding pleasurable.
Bill
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I think this Forum started well before I joined in 2008, maybe 2005?
What has captivated me most about Fifty-Plus beside the general milieu are (were) the Annual rides begun in 2010 up though last year. I have ridden in five of them, and have compiled the personal narratives of all the Rides on the thread,
"A Chronicle of the 50+ Annual Rides".
I myself think this so-called "way it used to be" ended with the Fourth Annual Ride in Tennessee. BTW,
billydonn [deceased] was on that one.
Another change IMO is the seeming disappearance of
self-identified females from those good old days. Miss Kenton, Miss Jean, and Beverly come immediately to mind as the Women of Fifty-Plus, since I have met them all in person. I considered Miss K the
doyenne of the Forum with her savvy and witty posts….